You lost him!?!
by Becs
Summary: Pietro bumps into Chester at the mall. The terrible 6 year old has lost yet another baby-sitter. Bit of fluff.


Disclaimer: Own Chester, Mel, and Lila. Don't own anybody else in this story.

A/N - Well I been kinda slack on the story writing front and I was reading in reviews that people liked Pietro's relationship with Chester. So, I decided to do another one.

"_Magic for me. Magic make no sound. It good for me. It good for me underground,_" Pietro sung softly as he wandered through the mall. He dodged out of the way of a runaway toddler. "Duh da duh da," Pietro hummed, bringing in the absent instruments. "_Magic on me. Really got me down. Invade the city. It make my heart beat no sound, beatnosound, beatnosound,_" he added the echoes, "_beatnosound, beatnosound._" Eyes half closed as he sung to himself Pietro clicked his fingers absently. "_And let me tell myself. Tell on. She turned my dad on. She turned my dad on! Dad on. Dad on!_"

A small hand reached across and tugged hesitantly at Pietro's pale blue and white shirt. Pietro yelped in surprise and whipped around. 

Nothing.

Pietro frowned and then a small voice said, "Mr. Pietro?"

Pietro's sapphire eyes flicked downwards and he saw, "Chester?"

The little boy looked up at the New Yorker a shy smile on his impish face. He said quietly, "I'm lost."

"Lost huh?" Pietro frowned, rubbing his chin with slender fingers as he regarded the brown-haired child, his other hand resting on his hip, "how'd that happen?"

"The baby-sitter lost me," Chester said, a familiar mischievous smile flitting across his lips.

Pietro smiled knowingly. "She lost you huh?" The speedster knelt down beside Chester, still grinning. "Now, just between us guys; she didn't really loose you did she?"

Chester beamed and shook his head furiously.

"Didn't think so," Pietro laughed, "you wanna hang little man?"

"Sure!" Chester said, his brown eyes wide with excitement.

"Chester?" a brown-haired girl called, her blue eyes filled with worry. "Chester? Oh god! I've lost him!"

"You like Chinese?" Pietro asked the 6 year old who trotted obediently at his side.

"I like noodles," Chester announced, giving a little hop-skip to catch up with the speed demon.

"Good enough," Pietro grinned, "come on. I'll treat ya to the best god damn noodles you've ever tasted."

"Cool," Chester grinned up at the New Yorker.

"Do you like cousin Melanie?" Chester asked as he unsuccessfully manoeuvred the chopsticks in his tiny hands. He had refused a fork, claiming rather proudly, 'I'm not a kid you know. I'm 6 and 3/4.' 

Pietro had laughed and thought, 'just the fact that you use the words 3/4 makes you a kid,' but he hadn't said anything.

"So do you?" Chester repeated his question.

"I like her as a friend," Pietro said firmly, "she is _not_ my girlfriend if that's what you were thinking." He picked up a wanton with his chopsticks and took a delicate bite.

"Oh," Chester said, frowning as he tried to pick up the noodles. He had a chopstick grasped in each hand and he was trying to collect the noodles by stabbing the chopsticks into the noodles, pressing the two tips together, then he would try and pull out as many noodles as he could, as fast as he could, before they all slipped off.

Pietro watched this display with slight amusement before reaching forward and stopping the frustrated child with a gentle hand. "Here. Do it like this." He held up his own chopsticks, held between long, delicate fingers. "You hold the first one like you would your pen or pencil. That's good. Now place the second one in the same place as the other, on top of the first. Good. Now hold the one on top with your thumb and index."

"What's an index?"

"That finger," Pietro pointed, "now try moving the top chopstick up and down. Great!"

"Hey it's working!" Chester grinned.

"It'll take a while to get used to but you'll get it," Pietro explained, "you're a pretty smart kid."

"Thanks!" Chester beamed, digging in to his noodles hungrily.

"You lost him!" Jean cried.

"I didn't mean to!" Kitty said defensively, "I just turned my back for a second and he was like, gone!" Kitty was talking on her pink cellphone as she rushed through the shopping mall, blue eyes darting from side to side in panic.

"Hey Kitty!" Lila smiled, waving at her friend. The tiny Freshman was wearing a pale blue skirt with her strappy heeled sandals, and a cute white tee shirt that said in pastel pink, Angel. Her hair was pulled into a half ponytail, her large brown eyes conveying happy emotion.

"Lila!" Kitty gasped, rushing up to her friend, "have you seen a little boy? He's got brown hair that like, kinda falls all over his face and brown eyes. He's about this big," she held her hands at just mid thigh length.

Lila shook her head, her brown eyes wide. "Why? What happened?"

"I was baby-sitting him and he's like, disappeared."

"Oh my god! That is like, _so_ terrible! Come on, we gotta find him!"

"Whatcha think of that one?" Pietro pointed out a blonde across the other side of the music store.

"She's too skinny," Chester wrinkled his nose, "why do you like girls anyway? They've got cooties."

"Here's a secret," Pietro grinned down at the impish kid, "they ain't got cooties. In fact, chicks are probably just about the best thing a guy could ask for on this entire planet."

"Better than candy?" Chester asked in disbelief.

"_Way_ better than candy."

"I don't believe you," Chester said in defiance.

"You will when you're older," Pietro grinned, "now, help Uncle Petey pick up a gorgeous, unsuspecting lady."

"He's not in the kiddie playground," Lila breathlessly informed her friend.

"And he's not in the toy store," Kitty was getting more worried by the minute, "where the HELL can he be!"

"I'm hungry," Chester whined, tugging at Pietro's shirt as they wandered through the mall, "I wanna ice-cream."

"You want an ice-cream, what?" Pietro asked.

"Pleeeeeeease!" Chester begged.

"Okay. Sure. Where's the nearest ice-cream place?"

A confident finger pointed due west.

"Well, I'm glad you're around," Pietro said, barely suppressing his smile.

It wasn't long before Pietro and Chester had arrived at a tiny ice-cream parlour. Pietro left the tiny 6 year old to choose his ice-cream, having given the child $5 for whatever he wanted. He leant on his back against the counter, his blue eyes watching the comings and goings of the people around him. Chester bounced up alongside him a few minutes later, chocolate ice-cream already covering his face. Pietro held out his hand for change.

Chester shook his head and grinned impishly. "It was is-pensive ice-cream," he explained.

"Really?" Pietro said. He scooped Chester up in his arms and turned to the girl behind the counter. "Now Chester, see this lady here?" Chester nodded, a smile still on his face. "Well, it's a chocolate ice-cream tradition that if you spend $5, you get a kiss from the lady." The girl behind the counter laughed as she saw Chester's face fall. 

Chester shook his head vigorously and tried to wriggle out of Pietro's arms. "I don't wanna kiss the lady!"

"But you spent $5," Pietro exclaimed, "you have to!" 

"I didn't really spend $5!" Chester admitted, "not really!"

"Then why did you say you did?" Pietro asked sternly. He held out his hand for the money. After Chester had placed the change in his hand Pietro placed the kid on the ground again and pocketed the change. "Next time you better just give me the money or I might let the lady kiss you anyway."

"Yes Pietro," Chester said in that voice kids get when they're doing the cute 'I'm sorry' voice.

"Awww, you're so cute," the girl behind the counter cooed, leaning down and ruffling the 6 year old's hair. Chester made a face and pushed his hair back into place, then took a bite of his ice-cream. "Is he your brother?" she asked Pietro, placing a hand coyly over her mouth.

"Actually, he's my friend's cousin," Pietro smiled charmingly, "but she didn't want to look after him so I offered."

"Oh that's so sweet!" the girl gushed, "and you do such a good job."

"I do my best," Pietro said, as modestly as is possible for Pietro Maximoff.

"So, you got a girlfriend?" the cinnamon-haired girl asked, twisting a strand of her long hair around a finger.

"Not yet," Pietro grinned, leaning forward.

"That's good," she breathed huskily, leaning forward as well. 

Their romantic moment was interrupted by Chester. "Eeeeew! Gross out!" 

The two teens pulled apart, the cinnamon-haired girl laughing at Chester, Pietro making a mock swipe for the mop-haired child.

"Shit, look at you," Pietro said as Chester leapt about him, "you got chocolate everywhere!" 

"Have a serviette," the girl said, passing the serviette to Pietro.

"Thanks," he smiled briefly before turning his attention back to Chester. He reached out easily and nabbed the impish 6 year old by the back of his shirt. "Here," he gave Chester the paper napkin, "wash up." He turned back to the girl behind the counter. "So, you'll give me your number?"

She smiled and took out a pen. She reached forward and grabbed Pietro's hand and wrote on his palm, _Jennifer,580-6625._

"Great," Pietro grinned at her, "I gotta go but I'll ring you soon."

"Bye," Jennifer called, waving them on their way.

"See ya gorgeous," Pietro called back. He looked down at Chester, "you're a babe magnet you know that?"

"Girls are icky," Chester answered.

"Pietro!" 

Pietro frowned and turned. Across the mall he saw Lila rushing towards him. 'Shit!' Pietro thought, 'it's the psycho valley-girl!'

"Oh my god!" Lila exclaimed breathlessly, "I haven't see you for like, ages!"

"Not since Friday," Pietro pointed out, "and it's only Saturday."

"Your point?" Lila asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's like, stalker talk," Pietro mocked her.

"Whatever," Lila said, "I've been running around this mall for ages and my feet are like, killing me. You wanna go get a soda?"

"I'm busy," Pietro said, taking Chester by the hand and starting to walk away, "come on Chester."

"Chester?" Lila frowned. "Oh my god, Kitty has been like, looking _everywhere_ for you!"

"_Kitty's_ his baby-sitter?" Pietro gaped. "Kitty Pryde?"

"Well duh. Do you know any other Kittys?"

"As a matter of fact I do," Pietro said indignantly.

"Kitty?" Lila had pulled out her phone, "I found him. And you will like, _so_ not believe who he's with. What do you mean? No, it's not Lance. Someone who is like, _way_ hotter. Eeew! He is not cute! Come on Kitty, this is way easy. It's Pietro! What do you mean, 'I should have guessed?' What's that supposed to mean? Where are we? Ahh, outside the Gap. K, see ya soon." She turned to Pietro, "she's coming."

"I don't wanna go with her!" Chester piped up form beside Pietro, "she says 'like' to much. And she made me go into a girl's store."

"Sorry little man," Pietro knelt down beside Chester, "but she's your baby-sitter. We gotta give you back." He winked at Chester while Lila wasn't looking, and mouthed, 'get ready to run.'

Chester grinned and nodded. It wasn't long before Kitty came running up. 

"There you are!" the blue eyed valley-girl gasped, "I've been looking for you like, everywhere. Don't you know you shouldn't run off like that?"

Chester didn't say anything but he slunk behind Pietro's legs, one tiny hand clasped to the speedster's jeans.

"Thanks for looking after him," Kitty smiled briefly at Pietro.

"No problem," Pietro said, "I've baby-sitted him before."

"You have?" Kitty asked, shocked, "how do you like, deal? He can be such a terror."

"We have an understanding," Pietro said simply.

"Oh, well, I gotta go now so, can I like, have him back?" She reached forward.

"Run!" Pietro yelled, grabbing Chester's small hand and scooping him into his arms.

"Pietro Maximoff come back here!" Kitty yelled after the disappearing speedster, who, for safety reasons, was not using _too_ much super-speed to cause suspicion.

"Catch me if you can Kitty-cat!" Pietro whooped over his shoulder as he sprinted through the mall.

"Oooooh," Kitty stomped a foot, "he is _so_ immature."

"He's dreamy," Lila sighed.

"Thanks for bringing him home Pietro," Mel's Uncle David said, taking his son by the hand, "I can't believe he lost _another_ baby-sitter."

"Believe it," Pietro grinned, "he lost her good and proper. But it's okay, we had fun, huh little man?"

"You bet!" Chester beamed.

"Well he certainly seems to like you," David smiled, "thanks once again for bringing him back." He reached into his pocket and pulled out $20. "Here, have this. It's the least we can do."

"Nah, keep it," Pietro waved the money away, "I like Chester. He reminds me of me. I gotta go. See you another day Chester."

"Bye Pietro!" Chester waved the slender, blue eyed boy on his way.

"Bye little man!" Pietro called, turning and waving back, "no more loosing pretty girls huh?"

"Girls have cooties!" Chester managed to yell before the door shut.

Pietro laughed. He turned sapphire eyes to the equally blue sky and grinned. Then he began to run.


End file.
